So after President Barack Obama tried to extricate us from the longest war in our history, President Trump is going to send thousands more American troops into Afghanistan without an exit strategy. Never mind the corrupt government, the ineffective Afghan Army, various warlords, the religious factions that have hated one another for a century. Why spill more blood and spend more money in an effort that is just plain stupid?

TOM MINNERICK, ELGIN, ILL.

To the Editor:

President Trump was supposed to tell us about his new strategy for Afghanistan. I watched, I listened and I realized … same strategy, nothing new. I got suckered into what was nothing more than another effort to divert attention from the major kerfuffle about his comments on Charlottesville, Va.

All in all it was a great speech, and kudos to the writer(s). But nothing new was learned about Afghanistan. So given the bait and switch, I would like a refund of my 30 minutes, please.

LINDA WILLIAMS, MINT HILL, N.C.

To the Editor:

President Trump and the generals’ “new” strategy for Afghanistan is to kick the can down the road. Letting the generals make decisions based on conditions on the ground — to increase troop levels, to back them down or to get out, without any time frame — is to continue to muddle along.

Muddling along isn’t a bad plan when you cannot come up with a better one. There is no real upside other than the postponement of the uncertainties of leaving now. But the downside is real: the continued sacrifice of our soldiers for an uncertain end. We remain on the horns of a dilemma.

T.J. DOLCIMASCOLO, ATLANTA

To the Editor:

America’s presence in the war in Afghanistan continues, with no end in sight after 16 years. Outside of the horrific cost in lost lives, think of how the $1 trillion (most likely much more) could have helped our nation with infrastructure projects or investments in health care. Think of what $1 trillion and more could have done to rebuild broken inner-city schools.

The only way to halt the spread of terrorism and the religious hate fueling these conflicts is to partner in education in these poor countries. We must give those who are being recruited to violence because of hopeless poverty and ignorance of the West better opportunities to engage the world in a constructive way.

BERNARD LANGSNEW PROVIDENCE, N.J.

To the Editor:

I am concerned about where President Trump’s Afghanistan strategy will lead. His words betray a single-minded dedication to the use of military might. Meanwhile, overwhelming numbers of State Department vacancies remain, potentially crippling the United States’ ability to engage in diplomatic and political follow-up negotiations.

Another major worry is that the predictably frequent civilian casualties to come will not only be tragic in terms of the human suffering, but will also widen radicalization of the people in Afghanistan and the region.